Things Get Worse for Bud Light as DeSantis Looks for Disney-Like Battle with Anheuser-Busch
First came Disney. Now, is Anheuser-Busch in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ sights?
That’s what it looked like after a letter was sent from the governor’s office on Thursday to the State Board of Administration, asking for a “review” of Anheuser-Busch stocks the SBA holds following Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney debacle.
In the letter to SBA interim executive director Lamar Taylor, DeSantis said it had come to his attention that the body — which, according to The Hill, “provides a variety of investment services to state and local government entities in” Florida, including the state pension plan — “currently holds global equity assets with Anheuser-Busch InBev.”
“As you well know, AB InBev’s performance has plummeted since its decision to associate its Bud Light brand with radical social ideologies,” DeSantis wrote.
“That fateful decision has transformed America’s formerly best-selling beer — and one of InBev’s best-performing assets — into a commercial pariah,” he continued. “InBev’s losses have been staggering.”
Indeed, in the first two months of the boycott triggered by the brand’s partnership with transgender “influencer” Mulvaney, the brand lost a whopping $27 billion in market capitalization, according to Fox Business.
“As sales of AB InBev products within the U.S. continue to precipitously decline, reports are now emerging that large American mainstays like Costco will be pulling Bud Light from the shelves,” the letter said, citing a New York Post report from last week.
“Clearly, the Board’s mismanagement — as well as its failure to remediate the problem and repair its relationship with millions of disaffected American consumers — has led to this impasse and will continue to financially harm the SBA and other shareholders.
“Our legal commitments and obligations, however, remain perfectly clear: we must prudently manage the funds of Florida’s hardworking law enforcement officers, teachers, firefighters and first responders in a manner that focuses on growing returns, not subsidizing an ideological agenda through woke virtue signaling,” DeSantis’ letter said.
This isn’t the first time DeSantis has taken a swipe at Bud Light. Back in April, when the Mulvaney boycott was just getting going, one of the governor’s Twitter accounts released a parody ad spoofing the brand’s 1990s “real men of genius” advertisements.
In this one, however, the real men of genius were competing in women’s sports:
In Florida, girls play girls’ sports and boys play boys’ sports.
That’s why we are replacing Bud Light with FREEDOM HEAVY 🍻🐊 … made 100% woke-free. pic.twitter.com/UD39AQnAui
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) April 18, 2023
Since the controversy broke, Anheuser-Busch has managed to alienate both sides of the aisle: Both honky-tonks and gay bars from sea to shining sea have stopped stocking the company’s products.
On the right, people believe, not incorrectly, that Anheuser-Busch was spitting in their faces with Bud Light’s foray into wokeness. On the left, people believe — again not incorrectly — that the brand was spitting in their faces by abandoning Mulvaney.
For once, Americans bridged their deep cultural divides and decided Bud Light isn’t for them. What once looked like a minor blip that would soon go away has turned into a months-long decline in sales that’s taken other Anheuser-Busch brands down with it.
The company released a statement to The Hill, simply saying that “Anheuser-Busch InBev takes our responsibility to our shareholders, employees, distributors and customers seriously. We are focused on driving long-term, sustainable growth for them by optimizing our business and providing consumers products to enjoy for any occasion.”
Of course, had that been the case, they wouldn’t have green-lighted the Mulvaney campaign in the first place. Now, Anheuser-Busch might find itself up against DeSantis urging state-linked investment agencies to start divesting from the beverage maker.
Consider Disney. It’s been roughly a year since the House of Mouse decided to pick a fight with the Florida governor over the “Don’t Say Gay” bill (that didn’t say “gay” anywhere in it).
Since then, DeSantis has been re-elected governor with nearly 60 percent of the vote after barely eking into office four years prior; the race was one of the highlights in an otherwise disappointing year for Republicans.
While his presidential campaign is off to a bit of a slow start, the fact remains there is a presidential campaign, and part of his platform is based on his willingness to stand up to corporate American wokeness.
Disney, meanwhile, has lost nearly $1 billion on its last eight releases (not even counting this summer’s Indiana Jones flop). Streaming losses are also significant, and new CEO Bob Iger is laying off thousands and cutting billions in spending. The company’s theme parks had the lowest turnout in 10 years over the Independence Day weekend.
If Florida starts ditching shares of AB InBev, will the company respond in the same pugilistic manner as Disney? If so, watch and wait.
It’s hard to believe things could get much worse for the people behind Bud Light, but look at what happened to the people behind “Lightyear.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
